Caesareans Cause Insurance Problems

The vast majority of Caesarean sections are unnecessary, invasive surgeries. To add insult to injury, many women are finding themselves un-insurable after a Caesarean. Insurance companies don't want to cover women of child-bearing age. Period. It's expensive and the insurance company's goal is to make money. The insurance company's goal is not to make sure you get well. That is your job. The doctor's job is to help you.

It is helpful to remember these roles when you're making health care decisions.

UK Socialized Medicine: Sorry, there's nothing we can do

America's health care: Yes. We. Can.

UK - “Enlightened” Socialized Healthcare: Sorry, can’t be helped. Your daughter is destined to look like Charles Laughton playing Quasimoto - learn to live with it until the effects kill her.

US - “Backwards” Healthcare: Your daughter will be restored in both health and beauty. Yes we can.

Choice. It's all about choice. For the socialist's claims to choice, they certainly do like limiting them.

"I'm Sorry": The Magic Words That Prevent Lawsuits

Well, that's the idea anyway. When a medical mistake happens, very often everyone knows there was a screw up, including the patient. But doctors are told by their malpractice insurance to deny, deny, deny. That advice has changed to apologize, apologize, apologize:

But with providers choking on malpractice costs and consumers demanding action against medical errors, a handful of prominent academic medical centers, like Johns Hopkins and Stanford, are trying a disarming approach.

By promptly disclosing medical errors and offering earnest apologies and fair compensation, they hope to restore integrity to dealings with patients, make it easier to learn from mistakes and dilute anger that often fuels lawsuits.

Malpractice lawyers say that what often transforms a reasonable patient into an indignant plaintiff is less an error than its concealment, and the victim’s concern that it will happen again.

One of the biggest problems with the "deny" mantra is that the hospital and doctor don't do an adequate correction of errors after a mistake, because, of course, there was no mistake. This reasoning is stupid, but it happens. Sometimes the process is the problem. Sometimes the environment is the problem. Or staffing. Or maybe, the doctor is just plain tired. Maybe the doc makes all his mistakes during surgeries between 10 and midnight. Unfortunately, the focus is on the success of the procedure, not the success of the outcome. There are many moving parts when a person ends up in the hospital. Denying and defending against all and any mistakes makes for a defensive environment where solution-oriented change doesn't happen. Or not very quickly at any rate.

The results of admitting errors has been encouraging:

Mr. Boothman emphasized that he could not know whether the decline was due to disclosure or safer medicine, or both. But the hospital’s legal defense costs and the money it must set aside to pay claims have each been cut by two-thirds, he said. The time taken to dispose of cases has been halved.

The number of malpractice filings against the University of Illinois has dropped by half since it started its program just over two years ago, said Dr. Timothy B. McDonald, the hospital’s chief safety and risk officer. In the 37 cases where the hospital acknowledged a preventable error and apologized, only one patient has filed suit. Only six settlements have exceeded the hospital’s medical and related expenses.

More than the money or correction of errors, admitting fault is just the right thing to do. When a person screws up, especially on your body (this isn't a car or landscaping after all), it seems only right to apologize and not charge the person, at the very least. Even better, get the person the corrective care they need. This is just basic customer service. Doctors, surgeons especially, have earned the arrogant rap for a reason. Everyone screws up. And even doctors need to know how to say, "I'm sorry".

Don't Let Your Mama's Have Babies In Texas, Ya'll

Texas ranks last in all things maternal. It's because of lack of health insurance, of course. Uh huh. Could it be that illegal aliens don't get prenatal care and the first time anyone sees them is when they stumble across the emergency room threshold to birth a new American? And in that case, I think Mexico could safely be blamed for their lack of good prenatal care.

I've spent far too much time in and around the Medical Center. Texas in general, and Houston in particular, lacks many things (namely mountains) but excellent medical care that is open to all is not one of them. One disturbing statistic that the research doesn't mention is the over-reliance on c-sections. Houston has one of the highest C-section rates in the country. This is major surgery and unnecessary most of the time.

Antipsychotics and Children

In the last 20 years, antipsychotic use in children has nearly doubled. The problem is that there have been zero studies on efficacy, long-term side-effects, etc. for these drugs when used on children and adolescents:

Atypical antipsychotic drugs are currently only approved to treat adults suffering from such psychotic illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar and other mood disorders, and Tourette''s syndrome. However, these drugs are often used to treat other psychiatric disorders for which they are not approved.

This group of antipsychotics includes Clozaril, Risperdal, Geodon, Seroquel, and Zyprexa.

There have been deaths and there are side-effects:

John March, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, prescribes the drugs to kids in some cases of serious illness when he thinks the benefits outweigh the risks. But he says prescribing them for behavior problems alone may be a mistake. "We have no evidence about the safety of these agents or their effectiveness in controlling aggression," he says. "Why are we doing this?"

At the same time, reports of deaths and dangerous side effects linked to the drugs are mounting. A USA TODAY study of FDA data collected from 2000 to 2004 shows at least 45 deaths of children in which an atypical antipsychotic was listed in the FDA database as the "primary suspect." There also were 1,328 reports of bad side effects, some of them life-threatening.

Drug companies are required to file any reports they have to the FDA, but consumers and doctors report such events on a voluntary basis. Studies suggest the FDA's Adverse Events Reporting System database captures only 1% to 10% of drug-induced side effects and deaths, "maybe even less than 1%," says clinical pharmacologist Alastair J.J. Wood, an associate dean at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville. So the real number of cases is almost certainly much higher.

"We're conducting a very large experiment on our children," March says.

Why are we doing this? Because parents seem clueless and powerless to handle an aggressive child with anger management issues. Because administrators and teachers are trying to minimize the disruption in classes. Because more and more children demonstrate the effects of poor nutrition, sleep habits, problem coping skills, media saturation, and rootlessness. Because doctors don't know what to do so they do something.

At the core, I hold doctors responsible. They prescribe mood altering medications as if they are no big deal. But these medications have huge implications for developing brains. If a child is on the med, a child is a walking experiment. Period.

Flu Vaccine Works For Shit

How many times do I have to tell you peeps that the Flu vaccine is utterly worthless? To reiterate: the flu virus mutates constantly. As in, the flu that your buddy gets three months from now is not the same exact flu you suffer with today. Furthermore, the vaccine for this year's flu is made from LAST year's flu virus. Researchers guess what strains will predominate and make the vaccine based on that.

This year, as in last year, they guessed wrong. Again.

Each year, health officials - making essentially an educated guess - formulate a vaccine against three viruses they think will be circulating. They guess well most of the time, and the vaccine is often between 70 and 90 percent effective.

But this year, two of the three strains were not good matches and the vaccine was only 44 percent effective, according to a study done in Marshfield, Wis.

The only people who benefit from the flu vaccine are the pharmaceutical companies. Now, I do not give a rats rump if they make money on other legitimate products. More power to them. But the flu vaccine is a complete fraud.

What does 44% protection mean? Does that mean that of the viri out there, you'll be covered almost half the time? According to the CDC, about 3-20% of the population gets the flu each year. How much money goes into vaccinating the 97-80% of the people who don't get the flu? In addition, how many people in the hospital were vaccinated, but got sick anyway? Remember 56% of the viri are not covered. So a vaccinated person will likely be vulnerable to the majority of the viruses that cause the flu. Nice. And it is possible that 1.5% to 9% of the population will be the ones covered effectively by getting the vaccine. Is that worth it? Is the expense every, single year, worth it? Is the trouble worth it? Would you have a surgery if it had a 1.5% to 9% effective rate?

Here's the deal: Every couple years, you're going to get the flu. It will make you miserable. It will boost your immune system. And you'll likely be safe for a couple years. The flu sucks. If you're a sick or weak person, it could kill you. But there are risks in life and the flu vaccine doesn't cover enough of them to make it worth it.

Erase Bad Memories Before They're Made

I can think of all sorts of uses for an anesthesia that makes you not remember bad stuff while it's happening.

10 Things You Want To Do More and Are Actually Good For You

I dragged my sorry ass out of bed this morning, waking in the bleak blackness of frigging Daylight Savings Time (which I recall mentioning recently that I hate) to go on the obligatory crack o' dawn constitutional (and no, I don't mean well, you know, sheesh). It was good to get moving again after binging like a starved Beagle on Thin Mints, but I digress.

There are some things, like taking a walk, that are good for you but you have to force yourself to do because the payoff isn't immediate, necessarily, if there's a payoff at all. Some things, though, feel good every. single. time. you. do. them, and yet, you don't do them enough. And the question is, Why not? So today, I'm reminding you of some things you like doing that are good for you too.

A word of caution: Don't do all these things in one day. Too much of a good thing and all that. Wait, what am I saying? Too much of a good thing is a great thing!

1. Have Sex: If you're married, why aren't you getting laid at least three times a week? It's good and good for you. Watch this handy-dandy little slide show. Sex is good exercise. It's good for your heart. It eases pain and depression. It's just really, really good. Just do it!

2. Drink booze. Being a teetotaler is lame. I mean, have some fun. And while you're doing it, feel secure in the fact that you're boosting your antioxidants, killing bad bugs in your gut, helping your heart and other good things. Mmmmm....beer. And wine. And vodka.

3. Eat chocolate. Oh come on! Take the chocolate out of the locked cabinet and embrace your indulgent desires. The darker the chocolate, the better. Pissed off at your spouse? Eat chocolate. It lowers blood pressure and has antioxidants to boot. Oh, and it doesn't cause acne or tooth decay. So, those are myths. Enjoy dark chocolate guilt-free.

4. Watch funny movies. Yeah, you sit on your ass too much, but as long as you're drinking a beer, eating some chocolate and having sex while doing it, you're minimizing the laziness factory. While you sit there, why not watch a funny movie? Laughing boosts your immune system, exercises your diaphragm and abdominal muscles and jiggles around your innards. That's healthy. Not to mention, the feel-good hormones called endorphins flood your system and reduce pain and can reduce your risk of heart attacks.

5. Hang out with friends. You'll live longer. It's true. You could either sit on the internet watching your stock portfolio go down the shitter or you could go have a beer with some friends. Go hang out. Friends will promote many benefits--you'll likely have a drink, eat dessert, and laugh. And, you'll feel connected. Making new friends is great, too. And if you're stuck at home for some reason, meet people on-line. Contrary to popular belief, people who are social on the internet are social generally.

6. Sleep more. Most people don't sleep enough. You should be sleeping between 7-8 hours per night. Sleeping is when our body repairs. It rests the heart and rejuvenates the mind. I am completely convinced that some forms of depression, especially post-partum depression, are really forms of sleep deprivation.

7. Play video games. Hey, it's not all bad. Your brain gets sharper. You're laying down new neurological wiring. It can be fun and social...can be. It sharpens visual skills. The Wii can actually help physical fitness. So, get your game on, Guitar Hero!

8. Sing in the shower, the car, in your house, in a blouse. OK, getting a little crazy Dr. Suess there. Singing is fun and healthy. Singing exercises the lungs. It ups those endorphins and oxygenates the blood while slowing the heart rate. Plus, there's the payoff of embarrassing your kids. That's cool, too.

9. Go on vacation. A lot. Men, women who go on vacations are less tense, depressed and tired and report greater marital satisfaction. Ever hear "when mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"? Well, your health will improve if you're not being stressed by a stressed-out wife, right? And men, skipping vacation is bad for your health. Men who don't take vacations suffer the highest death rate of any workers. You need a break!

10. Masturbate. Hey, if you can't have #1, at least go for #10. It's good in a pinch. (I'm sorry, I'm so punny.) Anyway, not only is it healthy (it can even prevent cancer!), but God wants you to masturbate.


Why are you denying yourself? Good health is yours for the taking.

Thadeus McCotter on Fixing Health Care in America

Who is Thaddeus McCotter? He's the House Republican Policy Committee Chairman. Here's what he said to John Hawkins (read the whole interview, lots of good stuff):

We need to get a patient centered -- not a bureaucrat centered -- version of modern medicine that allows a patient/provider relationship to be the key and to build upon that. That, to me, is going to allow the supply to meet the demand to the point where costs start to come down and adequate safeguards are there for those that cannot help themselves.

I think this is key, too. And to get a patient-centered relationship, you need to return power to the people in the relationship.

Imagine for a moment, that you are in a relationship with a guy, but that all dating times, conversation topics and every other part of your relationship was managed by a company who didn't know you, didn't particularly care if the relationship works or not, and actually hoped the relationship ended. That's what insurance companies are like. The government is even worse.

The energy exchanged while dating is love, or the potential for love. The energy exchanged in a doctor-patient relationship is knowledge and expertise for money. When a third party enters this relationship, the dynamics change. The patient takes things they don't need. The doctor gives things they don't need, or maybe that are inferior because the third party demands it.

A cash-driven relationship keeps the exchange more honest. George Bush was actually on the right track when he wanted to expand Medical Savings Accounts. It put the power back in the hands of those in the relationship. Of course, insurance companies do NOT want this. And the government itself loses power when people have more power.

Right now, the relationship is bureaucrat-centered and the bureaucrats would like it to stay that way.

Don't Get Sick In The Hospital

Certain things are common knowledge if you've had the unfortunate experience of spending much time in the hospital: 1) bad things happen on the weekend and 2) bad things happen at night. If I had to do one thing over again at the hospital when my premature sons were there, it would have been to trade off and stay all night with my son. That's when the shit hit the fan, and when stupid mistakes were made. As it was, I stayed at the hospital until midnight every night. But the real drama happens from 1 to 5 a.m. 

Now this conventional wisdom is supported by research:

The current study examined cardiac arrests among 86,748 adult hospital patients at 507 hospitals during a seven-year period ending last February. The researchers compared survival rates by the time of day and day of the week that cardiac arrest occurred. Among patients who had cardiac arrest between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., only 15 percent survived long enough to be discharged. That compares to about 20 percent of day-shift cardiac arrest patients who were discharged. Other measures, including 24-hour survival and favorable neurological outcomes, also were worse if the patient had a heart attack at night. The study also confirmed earlier research showing that weekday cardiac arrest survival was better than if cardiac arrest occurred on weekends.

Romney's Health Care Plan Costs More Than Predicted

Who woulda thunk it?

Self-Reliance & Government Run Health Care

The need for universal health care seems to have concentrated like the head of a zit. Congressmen have the urge to pop the pressure and will cause a mess and scarring if they fulfill their urge to "do something". But do American citizens really want managed care?

It seems some people do, but I have to imagine that they really have no comprehension of what that would mean in practical fact. The populace has certainly moved more interventionist domestically if the majority of people truly do want their health care paid for by someone else, and by someone else, they mean themselves and other tax payers.

The notion of self-reliance seems quaint these days. People are tired of boot-straps and scrimping, maybe. They dislike the uneasiness of being one health crisis away from ruin. The economy shows signs of slowing. They have debt. Their retirement accounts are dwindling thanks to the stock market taking a nose-dive. They're not quite desperate. Yet.

It is times like these that something for nothing looks mighty good. We all want to avoid pain. And if we can receive a benefit with no possible down-side then why not? But a big government program that takes over health care is a trade. We trade individual power for government power--yet again. And the more individuals cede to the government, the less likely the individual has control of his own life.

Americans have been schooled in passivity and compliance. From day care to public schools to college to grad school to jobs, the key to succeed is complying with the rules of whatever organization one is belongs to. There is something to be said to be a part of something bigger, more universal than oneself, but there is no great mission or value in relying on the government for health care. There is only more passive acceptance.

And really, it's accepting less than there is now. A delusional belief in empty political promises must be traded for freedom and choice. It's disturbing how willing Americans are to make that trade.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis in search of disease. It is descriptive of symptoms that vary from person to person. Doctors who even acknowledge the existence of fibromyalgia give the diagnosis as a last resort. To me, the diagnosis just means that the cause of the problems haven't been found.

Now a new drug to treat this ailment has been approved by the FDA. But to treat what? This is the heart of the controversy:

For patient advocacy groups and doctors who specialize in fibromyalgia, the Lyrica approval is a milestone. They say they hope Lyrica and two other drugs that may be approved this year will legitimize fibromyalgia, just as Prozac brought depression into the mainstream.

But other doctors — including the one who wrote the 1990 paper that defined fibromyalgia but who has since changed his mind — say that the disease does not exist and that Lyrica and the other drugs will be taken by millions of people who do not need them.

In some respects, the argument doesn't matter. The pain and symptoms are real enough. The question is what to do to help the patients. Often diet, exercise, and righting sleep problems can cure the problem. One of my first patients had "fibromyalgia". The cause was two-fold, but it took months of hunting to find the problems. First, she had banned pesticides from the 70s that had been seeping into their house. They removed that. Second, her husband snored something fierce and she hadn't slept for more than two hours in a row for over fifteen years. The latter problem was not something either of us thought of right from the beginning, but actually sleeping did more to reverse her symptoms than anything.

Here's my fibromyalgia protocol:

1. No naps.
2. No caffeine.
3. Set bed time.
4. Set bed time ritual.
5. Set wake-up time.
6. Light aerobic exercise for no more than 15 minutes around 3-4 p.m. (no later)
7. Lots of water.
8. Fresh diet: fruits, veggies, meat, light on carbs.
9. Testing for food allergies.
10. Testing for sub-clinical virus/bacteria infection.
11. Support the immune system.
12. Support other weak systems (right the hormones, if that's a problem).

There is no one treatment plan for fibromyalgia. There is no magic treatment plan. Often, the woman's health has deteriorated over decades. She has either been malnourished or had a virus she never recovered from or some other chronic stressor has chipped away at her health. Building back the body, and then psychologically getting congruent with the healing is often a long-term proposition.

With fibromyalgia, the woman has often felt crummy for years and years and just can't imagine not feeling bad. She doesn't remember what healthy felt like. She spends her days feeling the pain and that exacerbates the pain and further sensitizes her to it. It's a vicious cycle. She has also been dismissed by a multitude of doctors. She may end up in pain management. She may end up in the psychiatrist's office. And, she might need both, but she feels that her history and story haven't been honored.

With many fibromyalgia sufferers, there is often an underlying event that precipitates the episode. It takes some detective work to get to it. Sometimes the "cause" is never found but with enough lifestyle changes, the syndrome can be managed. Anecdotally, I've found that many fibromyalgia sufferers have suffered childhood traumas such as abuse, sexual abuse or something similar. This is not so strange. One of the history questions for Junior Rheumatoid Arthritis is whether the child has an alcoholic parent. Very often, he or she does. I have yet to work with a fibromyalgia patient who doesn't have an emotional component to the syndrome.

These ladies, and some men, need encouragement and support. They are, without fail, sensitive souls who I believe "absorb" the pain around them. Helping them to create boundaries both in their relationships and for their own psychological safety is paramount to future health. It is a frustrating disease and the people who endure the pain experience real suffering.

So, while I believe that fibromyalgia is a bogus diagnosis and shouldn't be masked with some new drug sure to score pharmaceutical companies money, I believe that these patients should be taken seriously. Something is wrong. That something needs to be found. And in these days of managed care, rushed appointments and overtaxed doctors, patients are often dismissed as crazy. It's just easier than admitting that the doctor is baffled.

Gratitude

One of the chief ways to be happy is to be grateful. Unhappiness comes from concentrating on what we don't have rather than what we do have. So, today in the middle of January, when the reality of Christmas bills, a slowing economy and the gray sky blahs set in, it's time to be thankful. Time to look at what's all around us and see the good and be grateful.

For my part, this last year and even now, my life has been filled by renewed friendships. That has filled me with extraordinary gratitude and thankfulness. And even better, I've made new friends. You all know who you are and I want you to know that I am profoundly thankful for you!

Getting Out Clean: Part Deux

Since flu season is upon us, I had re-linked to a post I wrote about getting out of a public restroom clean. That re-post garnered this response:

My god, how horrible must life be to go through it filled with such paranoia. How did our species survive for the millenia before we invent antiseptic wipes?

Remember when we were kids? We played in the dirt and mud. We rolled around on the ground with dogs (or whatever farm animals we were raising at the time). We drank from the garden hose that had been lying on the ground for months.

Strong immune systems that have been exposed to and conquered multitudes of viruses over a lifetime are not very susceptible to infection.

I spend all of my free time outside. Camping, hunting, fishing (and the various animal butchering that these activities require) are about as dirty as you can get.

Sure, I wash my hands after using the toilet, and before eating if they look dirty. I even use soap. I have never even given a thought to touching the water faucet or the door handle.

According to my employee record, my last sick day was sometime in 2003.

Evidently, my advice got misconstrued as some paean to obsessive-compulsion. Well, I think it would be wise to revisit the topic but give it a broader foundation.

A person with a healthy immune system won't get sick. Period. A healthy immune system isolates, kills, eats and then excretes viri, bad bacteria and mutant cells. All these invaders are tricky and do their best to fool the system. When the system is tired, malnourished, or otherwise stressed that's what happens.

People with strong constitutions are really people who rarely perceive stress or when a stressor is applied to them, they bounce back faster or use the stressor positively. I'm not talking about the strong-silent type who is imploding and the rest of the world sees it when he drops dead of a heart attack. I'm talking about the George Burns type who lives life fully and happily, and enjoys a good cigar now and again, too.

A healthy immune system is built by exposure to naturally occurring organisms in naturally occurring situations. One of the best things you can do for your kid is to let him catch a cold or the flu or some other virus and let him fight it without intervening with medications which short-circuit the immune process. Another way to build it is to walk barefoot. Let the kids play in the dirt, walk in the dirt, get dirty. And an excellent way to build the immune system is to get a dog or three. Animals share many bacteria with humans. Plus, their presence boosts the immune system.

So while I might be a little OCD about getting out of a public bathroom clean, please understand I'm not a general germophobe. Many public restrooms are disgusting petri dishes. The worst are hospital bathrooms where the bugs are supersonic. It is wise to be vigilant in public places while not being hysterical. Remember, stress lowers the immune system.

To stay well while traveling, for example, do this:

1. Allow enough time (emotional stress)
2. Drink plenty of water (you lose hydration because of recycled air--physiological stress)
3. Wash hands after using the bathroom and before eating
4. Watch, listen, or read positive something. (boosts immune system)
5. Take a shower and a walk after a long travel day. (clean the skin and clear out the windpipes, increase circulation which washes out bugs)
6. Drink more water and take water soluble vitamins like a B complex.
7. Try to have a good sleep.
8. Avoid shaking hands (#1 way bugs are transmitted is direct contact).
   

You won't get sick, even if you're surrounded by choking masses. Boost your immune system.

And still, wash your hands!

Flu Drugs Give Children Neurological Problems

It's important to remember that the largest concentration of nerve fibers, outside the brain, is in the gut. You do have gut feelings.

Don't give your kids Flu drugs. Hygiene. Hygiene. Hygiene. Fluids, rest, good nutrition should be enough to help any kid manage the flu.

Today might be a good day to remind you about how to get out of a public bathroom clean.

Animal Massage

A friend just sent this to us. Anyone into alternative therapy might appreciate it.

Oh! And click on it and you'll get to see the masseuse at work.

Screening for MRSA

Oh, this IS a hoot. A hospital will screen incoming patients for MRSA? Will they test staff pens, their equipment, doctors and nurses who are the most likely vectors for the spread? Will they start spending more time hand washing and employing basic hygiene?

Pardon me, but this new effort is quite a bit like screening at the airport. It's a big nuisance that will do little to stop the spread of disease.

England: Healthcare So Good You Get Do It Yourself Denistry

Socialized health care is the panacea for the common man, right? Well, Britain's brown teeth have a cause besides the lack of personal hygiene: there aren't enough dentists. Consider this:

Six per cent of patients questioned said they had resorted to DIY treatment to avoid expensive dental bills.

This can include anything from using over-the-counter painkillers and salty water to combat an abscess to plugging a broken crown with chewing gum.

Others have resorted to more extreme measures. One patient in Lancashire claimed he had to "remove 14 teeth using pliers".

Those in charge of nationalized medicine want it this way. They want people to wait, it cuts costs.

Brown teeth. It gets worse. Read the whole article. It's like Nationalized Health Care contraception.

Methicillin-resistant S taphylococcus au reus: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

PHOTO: What's that? Read and find out.


MRSA, the bug in the headline, killed my son ten years ago. He acquired it in the hospital where most people used to acquire it. The bacteria was made supersonic by being exposed to increasing doses of increasingly strong antibiotics.

But then it escaped.

Many people are colonized with MRSA now, including my husband and I, presumably, and of course my surviving son. My surviving son ended up in isolation in the hospital. He was colonized with MRSA and could be a threat to other patients. At two pounds he wouldn't jump out of bed and hug the other babies, but the doctors and nurses caring for him might touch him and then touch another baby without washing their hands (something I saw often enough while there for four months).

Last year, my kid's pediatrician lamented the epidemic (she used the word) of normal old flesh wounds (cuts, abrasions) becoming infected with MRSA. She told me she had at least one case a week. She's not alone, evidently:

In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and Tennessee, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and 988 deaths in 2005. The researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31.8 out of every 100,000 Americans, which translates to 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths nationwide. In comparison, complications from the AIDS virus killed about 12,500 Americans in 2005.

"This indicates these life-threatening MRSA infections are much more common than we had thought," Fridkin said.

In fact, the estimate makes MRSA much more common than flesh-eating strep infections, bacterial pneumonia and meningitis combined, Bancroft noted.

"These are some of the most dreaded invasive bacterial diseases out there," she said. "This is clearly a very big deal."

And that, clearly, is an understatement.

I'm not one for excessive overreaction to medical news stories. Seems like everything these days can kill you. HOWEVER, this is one story you should be very concerned about. Every time you go to the hospital, and increasingly, schools and other group environments, you're at risk to this bacteria that's everywhere.

Same advice as always, people: Stop using antibiotics unless you're nearly dead anyway. And when you use them, don't stop when you feel better. Knock out the bacteria. In addition, take probiotics--those supplements that introduce good bacteria (This is one of my favorite brands.) while taking antibiotics so your system isn't open to every bug that comes along after you beat the infection with an antibiotic. And finally, be fastidious about wound washing. Wash your hands. Good hygiene. (Read more here about getting out of the bathroom with clean hands.)

The unfortunate thing now is that it doesn't matter how circumspect you've been about antibiotic overuse in the past, your neighbor hasn't. And enough neighbors and their doctors have given useless antibiotics (for viruses, for example) that the bugs are strengthening. And if you get sick by one of these strengthened bugs, you'll need the heavy artillery to kill them. And the heavy artillery, itself, could kill you.

Last thought: Go wash your hands, clean your computer keyboard, clean your mouse, clean all your phones and clean your light switches and door handles. Switch out your hand-towels. Use disposable hand-towels during flu season. Don't shake hands at church (my husband told me nearly none of the men wash their hands--and statistically this bears out, only about 40% of men wash their hands after going to the bathroom). If you do shake hands, carry around the waterless hand sanitizer.

The alternative is using maggots. It works. But they're maggots. That's a diabetes ridden, infected foot with maggots.